Many Americans find the major presidential candidates unappealing and are looking for alternatives. Whichever candidate is more successful at wooing disaffected voters could have a major advantage at the polls.

Donald Trump is easily the most unorthodox figure set to become the presidential candidate of one of the major US parties in a long time. But compared to some other presidential contenders he looks – well, conventional.

Columnists talk about the relationship between President Morsy and the army, his approach to people’s rights, state budgets, presidential candidates and the approach of the Muslim brotherhood to the media

By AP The Islamists: Khairat Al-Shater Deputy head of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s strongest political movement, and thus a top contender. A behind-the-scenes operator, Al-Shater, 61, is the top Brotherhood strategist and a chief financier. Educated as an engineer, Al-Shater is a multimillionaire, owning or running a network of businesses, including investment companies, manufacturers and a …

By Heba Hesham CAIRO: The court looking into the qualification of Muslim Brotherhood leader Khairat Al-Shater to contest the presidency recused itself on Wednesday. “We demanded that the case be considered by another court because the presiding panel of judges announced its views on the case,” Muslim Brotherhood lawyer Sobhy Saleh said. According to Saleh, the …

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By AFP CAIRO: Egypt’s ruling military is not fielding a candidate in next month’s presidential election, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) chief Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi said on Monday. “The armed forces do not have a candidate in the next presidential election,” the official MENA news agency quoted Tantawi as saying, adding …

By Sarah El Sirgany CAIRO: In a continuously changing political scene, presidential candidate Abdel Moneim Abol Fotoh struggles to keep the focus on his electoral program. He condemns the polarization that’s already taking its toll on his bid, but also has nothing but disdain for the nomination of Omar Suleiman, the vice president appointed before the …

By Marwa Awad and AbdelRahman Youssef / Reuters CAIRO: A bid for power by Hosni Mubarak’s former intelligence chief is an insult to Egypt’s revolution that, if successful, would trigger a second nationwide revolt, the Muslim Brotherhood’s candidate for Egypt’s presidency said. In his first public comments since being nominated by the Brotherhood on March …

By Heba Fahmy CAIRO: Islamists and remnants of the former regime (commonly known as felool) rushed to register their candidacy for Egypt’s first post-Mubarak presidential election. Registration for the presidential election began April 8 and closed Sunday at 2 pm as frontrunners faced with uncertainties regarding their applications due to legal challenges. The committee supervising …

By Safaa Abdoun CAIRO: Presidential hopefuls Ayman Nour and Hamdeen Sabahy filed their candidacy documents to the Presidential Election Committee (PEC) on Friday amidst much celebration by their supporters. The two candidates submitted their applications within one hour with the supporters of each chanting together “Nour and Sabahy, one hand.” An avid supporter of late Egyptian …

By AFP CAIRO: Egypt’s former spy chief Omar Suleiman is to contest next month’s presidential election, the official MENA news agency reported on Friday, after having ruled himself out of the race. His change of mind came after a group of demonstrators had gathered in a Cairo district to urge Suleiman, who served as Hosni …

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By Rania Al Malky CAIRO: On the fourth anniversary of the April 6 protests, an invisible voyeur looks down from above, sporting a grin that is part gloating and part ‘mission accomplished’. Back in the day, when the seeds of Egypt’s recent popular uprising were sown through a Facebook page calling on Egyptians to support Mahallah …

By Dina Zayed and Yasmine Saleh /Reuters CAIRO: Adel Abdeen says he is the secret son of Farouk, the last king of Egypt, who was overthrown in a 1952 coup and succeeded by military leaders who, he says, don’t have a clue. Secure in the belief that he can do a better job, Adel aims to …

By AFP CAIRO: Former Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, a stalwart of ousted president Hosni Mubarak’s regime, could run for president in upcoming elections, local press reported on Monday. “Omar Suleiman approaches the presidential battle,” read the headline of the state-owned daily Al-Ahram, adding that his supporters would organize a march to his house to …

By Philip Whitfield CAIRO: Now that the lesser leagues are sorted, it’s time for the big boys to make hay. As Charles de Gaulle put it: In order to become the master, the politician poses as the servant. The nation’s political wanabes are clamoring. Who’d wanabe big? As of now, 800 aspirants are carting around the …

By Hamza Hendawi / AP CAIRO: From plumbers to lawyers, dessert chefs to retired master spies, hundreds are trying to join the race for president in what is shaping up to be Egypt’s most exciting vote in living memory. The vote is the first since last year’s ouster of authoritarian leader Hosni Mubarak in a popular …

By Hamza Hendawi /AP CAIRO: At least 500 Egyptians have taken the first step to run for president, a sign of the excitement generated by the country’s first presidential elections in which the outcome is in doubt, election officials said on Wednesday. They said the 500 have obtained applications to officially declare their candidacy for the …

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By Heba Hesham CAIRO: A number of presidential hopefuls opted to get the required 30,000 individual endorsement signatures instead of those from 30 MPs, seeing it as the first real indicator of popular acceptance of any candidate. Presidential hopefuls, who are not members of established parties with parliament representation, must collect the signatures of 30 parliamentarians …

By Heba Hesham CAIRO: The committee supervising Egypt’s presidential election issued Wednesday regulations for ratifying the signatures of voters who support certain candidates, for the voting procedure of expatriates and also specified campaign funding guidelines. The Supreme Presidential Election Committee will begin receiving nominations on Saturday and until April 8, with the first election since Hosni …

By Hamza Hendawi / AP CAIRO: A lineup of Islamists, retired generals, old regime figures and political newcomers are campaigning to become Egypt’s first president since Hosni Mubarak’s fall, but none of them may have the stature to tackle this nation’s enormous problems or stand up to the powerful military. The May 23-24 elections are supposed …

By Saad Hussein and Yasmine Saleh / Reuters CAIRO: A veteran Egyptian politician who is close to the country’s military rulers and the powerful Muslim Brotherhood announced on Wednesday he would run in a presidential election on May 23. Mansour Hassan, the head of the advisory council to Egypt’s military rulers and a culture and information …

By Heba Hesham CAIRO: Rights lawyer Khaled Aly announced Monday his plans to run for president on a platform of social justice, “as an independent young man who is sided with the poor against the military ruling.” “I have no fear as long as I am backed by the poor and indigent who revolt for their …

By Heba Hesham CAIRO: The upcoming presidential elections are going to be a showdown between candidates affiliated with the Islamist stream and those linked to the ousted regime, political and media experts argued. Since the presidential electoral committee announced that registration of candidacy will start on March 10, a number of newly announced presidential hopefuls …